Brief Consideration of the Range of Plays

Brief Consideration of the Range of Plays

1512 - The term masque* is first used to denote a kind of poetic drama. 1512 - In Paris a writer, Pierre Gringoire*, is a member of a political cabaret. He writes the

Play of the Prince of Fools and of the Mother of Fools* to be performed on Shrove Tuesday [remember? that festival time before Lent?.]

Niccolo Di Bernardo Machiavelli* (1469-1527) - Florence, Italy. Primarily a statesman and philosopher working for the Medici*, he is best known for his political advice to rulers, The Prince* (1513), a work still read and its advice still followed today. In theatrical circles, however, he is equally well-known. He is exiled from his service on suspicion of conspiracy and turns to writing comedies. In 1513-20 he is writing the most enduringly popular comedy of the Italian Renaissance, La Mandragola* (a.k.a. The Makdrake Root*). This play is considered a masterpiece of the commedia erudita*. It is a terrific and funny critical look at Florentine society with a scheming, greedy priest, gullible husband, gorgeous wife and ardent lover, all guided and aided by the clever "parasite" (a guy who makes his living off other people.)

1513 - Another Italian comedy, La Calandria* by Bernardo Dovizida Bibbiena* appears, this one is based on Plautus*' Menacchmi*.

1513 All that exploration is going full speed ahead. The Portuguese reach China; Ponce de Leon* discovers Florida; and, Balboa* makes his way across the Isthmus of Panama to see the Pacific Ocean from a peak in Darien (the current name for Panama).

We should take a moment here to straighten out all these terms the Italians use to identify their plays:

The commedia erudita* refers to the "learned comedy" the academies are promoting, based on the models of the Romans but dealing with current city life. Lodovico Ariosto* (1474-1533) is the first, best, and most influential writers of this form. While he is best known for his epic poem (Orlando Furioso *, published 1532) his plays influence Spain, England and France;

Commedia dell'Arte* refers to the popular improvised street comedy performed by professionals.

Both of these kinds of plays were based on:

1- the sacred plays (rappresentazioni sacre*) which include any kind of dramatization suitable for religious instruction (mystery, miracle, morality, etc.) [note: these are still being done in France and Germany and will continue to be really big in Spain for another two hundred years]

2- folk, rustic or peasant plays, especially the debates (contrasti* - these could be domestic brawls or legal or religious quarrels and disputations) and the May plays (maggi*)

3- and the Latin plays the Humanists were writing in imitation of the ancient Romans. Sixteenth century Passion Play* performances are played in front of the churches and in

market squares. The director or the producer usually takes the role of the praecursor* who announces and comments on the plays. All work comes to a stand still (sounds like the Roman

Festivals) and people come in from the surrounding villages where the event has been announced by a herald.

1514 - The Bozen Passion Play* (in the south Tirol, now the Italian Province of Bolzano) is done in the Parish church and takes seven days. The author is Vigil Raber*, a writer, stage and costume designer and director.

1515 - The first Italian tragedy, Sofonisba*, by Giangiorgio Trissino*, is written in blank verse and based on Greek models instead of Roman. This gives rise to a big controversy as to which is a better model.

When religious drama starts to be suppressed (at different times and in different places between 1400 and 1550,) the morality* play becomes Europe's dominant form of religious drama, especially in England and France.

1515 The Turks are still beating at their neighbors. This time they conquer eastern Anatolia and Kurdistan.

1516 In Spain Ferdinand II* dies and the throne goes to his grandson, a Hapsburg born in Flemish Ghent, who can't speak Spanish. This is Archduke Charles of Burgundy and the Netherlands, now Charles I* of Spain and later to become Charles V* as Holy Roman Emperor*. This will bring a lot of problems to Spain because he will devote most of his attention to affairs in the Holy Roman Empire using Spanish wealth to do so.

France gets the right to appoint its own ecclesiastics, instead of leaving it up to the Pope. 1516 - In England John Skelton* writes Magnificence*. 1517 Exports from the New World begin to show up in Europe. Coffee shows up for the first

time. Charles I (see above) shows up in Spain for the first time since inheriting the throne. He

promptly grants a monopoly of Negro slave trade to Florentine merchants. Peace is declared between all those parties fighting in Italy (England, France, Spain, the Pope

and the Holy Roman Empire*.)*